Through the Tunnel

One of the nine elements that generally occur during Near Death Experience is the tunnel experience. This involves being drawn into darkness through a tunnel, at an extremely high speed, until reaching a realm of radiant golden-white light. Also, although they sometimes report feeling scared, they do not sense that they were on the way to hell or that they fell into it. Instead of a tunnel, some people report rising suddenly into the heavens and seeing the Earth and the celestial sphere as they would be seen by astronauts in space. Once on the other side of the tunnel, or after they have risen into the heavens, the dying meet people who glow with an inner light. Often they find that friends and relatives who have already died are there to greet them.

Here on earth tunnels are used for traffic and for all our infrastructure connecting us: system for heating, sewerage, electricity, telephone and digital cables etc. Crafty criminals have used underground tunnels to commit all sorts of crimes, including bank robberies and drug smuggling. During the past decade, a slew of so-called smuggling tunnels have been discovered on U.S. soil, coming from both Canada and Mexico. Tunnels has been used in wars and for loveaffairs.

A Time Tunnel enables us to travel to another time. It is possible because of the phenomenon known as time dilation in Einstein's relativity theory. The timemachine has been a favorite theme of science fiction since the 1880s. Many scientists has dimissed it but researchers at NASA believe its possible. Elements of timetravel are sometimes presented as part of spiritual tourism, a growing industry. In the new age context timetravel is an inner process – but physical tunnels can also be used in spiritual rites, to pass through a tunnel can be a rebirth in a spiritual context. In zen gardening a “space tunnel” can be used as a transition between the public and the private space, as one element in the manipulation of our minds to reach greater awareness.